10 cents a foot

[shvl73]

F that guy

FORGET that guy.
Lets not get posts deleted on this family friendly site.

 

[curtisfarmer]

Yeaaahh...that is what I wanted to say. Try thinking that when you break your Kubota for $5!!!! Hah! Send him a thankyou note for being so kind to hire you as well.

 

[IH3444]

Tell your neighbor its not 1980 anymore. He can look all he wants but I doubt he'll find anyone to do a 250' driveway for $5. I plow some close neighbors and don't charge them. But I have a few customers (cheap) that only want me to come when they call after they have 4' piled up and nowhere else to put the snow and want me to move it with the loader. For those customers I charge $50 an hour. For regulars I charge $35 an hour. My tractor is a 26 HP with a 5' loader.

Try like 1960....

 

[dex3361]

All it would take is for this neighbor to shovel this drive by hand. It would take days to clear. Then he might think about how much his time is worth and how much your machine is worth. On second thought he probably wouldnt get it.

 

[powerstroke444e]

We have some bone heads around here that don't have insurance that do driveways for $15 to $20 per snow, on one commercial job about 8 acre lot a guy got the bid for $50 per hr just to get work, or piss us off, hope they don't hit any curbs. I think this is a good winter to let the plows set in the shed and save wear and tear on the equipment. And to date we have not even gotten a snow worth pushing.

 

[Ace3]

I guess I'm selling myself short. I plow two of my neighbors driveways one 100' ant the other 400' feet for nothing. I also plow the quarter mile road we are all located on. The deal is that I plow the road and they salt and sand it as its very steep. The tractor is new this year and I like to play (I mean work) with it. I'll see what happens next year.

 

[LBrown59]

LOL Five dollars is a bargain. considering. They are most likely not gonna find a better price.

They might by june.

 

[FullBucket]

Perhaps your neighbour has done you a good deed. He has given you an easy way to turn down future requests that you would neither profit from nor enjoy. Without needing to be offensive, you can reject future inquiries with, "I'm sorry I'm pretty busy and I don't think we could agree on a price that would make both of us happy anyway." Why become the bad guy; he sounds like he's much better suited to the role .

 

[PILOON]

And probably the guy has 2 cars, calls you to come back as his wife has gone to work so you can clean that spot, or calls back to advise you that the city just passed and you can now clean what the city just filled in!
Or leaves his car in the drive, waves at you as you do your best not to scratch his new Jag all while he sips a coffee BUT expects you to come back to clean where his car was parked!

Now you know why I don't contract plow anymore.

Had one that it was always 'come back tomorrow' 'til I heard (grapevine) that he was moving in 3 days!
We had a record dumping and his drive was drifted in 4 ft deep.
Well 3 days later I honked and waved at him as I drove by.

 

[BANDAMAN]

I always figured if I didn't charge, then they couldn't complain if I didn't do the job right!


....but if I was doing it for money, I would just do some research and see what the going rate is.

Most of my neighbors have methods of clearing snow and I am pretty busy anyway, but if we get a good dumping, and I have the time, I will go plow a few out.....I like to do it when they are out to church or still at work. Its a nice surprise when they get home. I've had a few cases of beer dropped off on the door step for my "troubles". Hope they don't find out how much fun I am having! My bro-in-law lives nearby and does a bunch of driveways with his ATV, but I would be upset if somebody did mine for me and I didn't get the seat time.

 

[coreshot]

but I would be upset if somebody did mine for me and I didn't get the seat time.

That's funny, I have an older gentleman two doors down from me that has a plow on his riding mower. He used to do all the sidewalks around the neighborhood, and quite alot of the street. Since I got my tractor, he respects my fun and stays in his own territory. He does the walks and street from halfway across my next door neighbors house and to the west, I take from where he leaves off and go east. It's funny to see us two prowling the hood on our tractors looking for snow to push.

 

[rbargeron]

I always figured if I didn't charge, then they couldn't complain if I didn't do the job right.........

I do 8 places within 1/2 mile radius. I've been trying different snow blowers - it's good to have a range of driveway conditions (long, short, paved, loose ) With the cab and front blower it takes less than 2 hours for everybody - it's a nice break from the office job and counts as my good deed for the day. Also, my neighbors know I'm a tractor nut and need the outlet.

 

[C6rider]

I'm the only one on my 1/4 mile road year round. I do have 2 neighbors who come up from Mass in the winter, one regularly, one rarely. We each pay $28 per storm (over 3"). For that the road gets plowed, my next door neighbors 220' drive and 900sf parking area, my 200' drive and 600sf parking area and my other neighbors 800sf parking area. It's all gravel/roadpack.
I clean up anything the plow misses or banks too high and what slides off my metal roofs later. I also do the road if less than 3" unless I know another storm is imminent. I don't charge these 2 neighbors for anything as they would, and have done much for me. Some other neighbors that just come up in the summer I wouldn't work for at any price.

 

[Roger]

Full Bucket,
That is a very diplomatic answer.
No use arguing with such people. I would tend to answer pretty well
the same way.

Roger........Eastern Ontario

L3400 LA463 68" blower

 

[PUSHINDIRT]

Geeeeez... I can't even but a shovel for five bucks! You seem to be a nice person willing to help out neighbors/ friends, don't let people take advantage of you good nature.

 

[hink]

I have a 1-1/2 half mile of road and plow 8 driveways with my rear pull snowblower /l2800. I only get paid for 3 driveways but the road association pays for all my diesel fuel for road maintenance. I also find cases of beer delivered to my house all the time.

 

[chinawall]

Hey guys, what happens when we break our equipment doing work for someone?

 

[chinawall]

I get a great bottle of bubbly every Christmas from my neighbour for doing his driveway. Wouldn't want anything more.

 

[KubotaSam]

I am a generous as the next guy. However plowing snow has a certain do or die aspect to it. Stuck or broke down when the snow is piling up and the wind is blowing and the temp is pushing - 10 has a way of telling a hard lesson. I still plow one neighbor who has been a customer for 25 years for $5.00. The less time they have been a customer the more I charge them. $40.00 for a close neighbor to $200.00 for a road to a cell phone tower. People do not realize the money we have into our equipment. Also as I stated earlier the problems that can happen when plowing can be expensive as well as dangerous. Trying to fix or unstuck a plow in a blizzard is no fun. If someone I did not know offered me $5.00 to plow a drive I would laugh in their face. Each year I plow one hardship case near me for free. I also always stop it I see another plow guy stuck or in other need of help. People need to get real.

 

[CBW1999]

It is fairly easy for any of us to come up with our "hourly rate" based on our equipment, fuel etc. And of course, due to the variety of equipment inventories and such, it is reasonable that there is a range of rates for plowing in any given area.

What I find fun and interesting is when the "Scrooge's" of the world suddenly realize what THEIR time is worth. My favorite example: Passing by a business and seeing the owner trying to clear out using a rather small blower. I stopped and asked if he wanted me to finish the job. He asked how much- and I told him $25.00.

After several remarks that I was a crook, he smugly said- "it will only take you 15 minutes to finish and that's a hundred bucks an hour- "I can get a couple of kids to do it for ten bucks".

Hours later, as I drove by with a hot cup of coffee..........He waved to me....I laughed- and kept driving!

I can only hope he got the idea